Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Dragon Quest XI
It’s Best to Focus Each Character on One Weapon
Dragon Quest XI’s ability system gives you a wide array of different things to choose from. There are tiles that boost stats, ones that unlock new abilities in combat, ones that up their chance of getting pepped up, and more. Each character has at least two weapons they can use, and two sections of their ability grid correspond to these weapons. Realistically, you could try and be a jack of all trades and invest points here and there, but it’s a much better idea to have each character double-down on one specific weapon type.
Doing this allows you to really power up that weapon, and learn a wide array of abilities. Ability points aren’t super abundant and as you progress through the game, spots on the ability grid will cost more and more. It’s best to focus on the slots that boost your attack damage when wielding, then try and get specific abilities, and then once you’ve completed that seep over into the other sections on the grid.
The other thing that might not be obvious in Dragon Quest XI, is that if you do decide to change gears and put a different weapon type on a character, you can reassign all of the ability points you’ve used. By going to a church or save point and choosing the “reactification” option, you can get back all points used on a specific section and reuse them, for a small fee of gold. Because of this, it’s easy to rebuild a character in another way.
Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Dragon Quest XI
You Can Improve Any Piece of Equipment
The Fun Sized Forge is a big part of the equipment system in Dragon Quest XI, and it’s easily where you can get most of the best equipment throughout the game. However, one thing that isn’t made completely clear is that you can use the forge to rework any piece of equipment in the game. The game tells you that you can rework an item you’ve failed to forge correctly, but by going to the “Rework” option on the forge menu you can actually rework any weapon, piece of equipment, or accessory, outside of a few specific late-game weapons.
The catch here, of course, is that you’ll need an item called Perfectionist’s Pearls to rework things. Each time you forge a new item you’ll get rewarded with Perfectionist’s Pearls, or you can also buy them from a shop at L’Academie de Notre, a location you’ll visit a ways into the game. You’ll have to play the forging minigame, but any item can be boosted up to a +3 state, so it’s good to pop in and rework the equipment you pick up in chests or from shops.
Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Dragon Quest XI
Combat Gets Much Harder Later in the Game
As you play through Dragon Quest XI, you’ll probably notice how easy combat seems, and this is true for a good 30-40 hours. You shouldn’t have much trouble for the first part of the game, and that’s intentional it seems. Dragon Quest XI has a slow build in difficulty, letting you learn the ins and outs of combat and which party builds you like best, before bumping up the difficulty.
At about the halfway point, a big event happens in the story, and from there combat gets quite a bit more difficult. This again happens late in the game, with combat and bosses especially getting incredibly difficult. So if you’re finding Dragon Quest XI a bit on the easy side, don’t worry. That’ll change as you keep going.
Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Dragon Quest XI
You Don’t Need to Worry About Those Red and Silver Doors
There’s a ton of treasure and little items tucked away in the corner of Erdrea, and exploring in Dragon Quest XI is definitely rewarding. However, you’ll find quite a few locked red and silver doors around the world, with no explanation on how you might be able to open them. Well don’t worry too much, you don’t need to waste any time trying to find a key or a way of getting in, as it’ll happen automatically.
We won’t say exactly how or where, but during the story you’ll automatically get a Magic Key to open red doors, about halfway through the game, and an Ultimate Key to unlock Silver Doors near the end of the game. However, it is a good idea as you discover these doors to note down their locations, as you’ll need to travel back and unlock them later to get the riches inside.
Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Dragon Quest XI
There’s More Than One Ending
Dragon Quest XI is a long, long game, even longer than you might think at first. After rolling credits the first time you will get a screen reading “The End,” but your journey isn’t nearly over. Reloading the save you make after beating the game will see your journey continue, and there’s actually a sizable piece of the game left to go. Dragon Quest XI’s true ending is more than just a fun little final boss or add-on, it actually expands on the story and lore in some big ways.
This is also where the game gets extremely challenging, throwing some seriously tough bosses and enemies your way before you reach the final boss. If you’re looking for a serious challenge in Dragon Quest XI, keep on playing right through the end. However, keep in mind you’re going to need to do some serious grinding and find powerful weapons. Luckily, Dragon Quest XI gives you plenty of opportunities to do both of those things.
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